1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to skis for snow vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to steering skis that provide improved handling for such vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of snowmobiles and similar snow vehicles has increased in popularity in recent years. These vehicles are used for utilitarian purposes, for casual recreational purposes, and for sporting purposes. The vehicles typically are adapted to travel across snow and/or ice and usually include at least one forward facing ski along with a driven belt track or other propulsion mechanism, e.g., wheels. The forward-facing ski can be directed leftward or rightward by a steering handle to alter the direction of the snowmobile.
Typically, snowmobile steering skis are constructed to have a plate-like ski body, which is formed integrally with a keel that protrudes from the bottom of the ski body toward the snow surface. This construction generally is superior to a completely flat ski. However, the desired construction of the ski body and the keel vary depending on the average snow conditions and/or the average load expected to be carried by the snowmobile.
While a snowmobile bearing the above-describe steering skis will perform reasonably well under average load and snow conditions, a specific snowmobile will seldom be operated in such conditions. For example, the load may be significantly smaller (e.g., a young adult) or larger (e.g., a heavy man pulling a large load) than the average expected load. Also, while certain snow conditions may be typical, a particular locality might receive vastly greater amounts of snowfall (e.g., an area subject to lake-effect snow) or may have little snow and a great deal of ice. Moreover, tracks from by other snow vehicles can create varying surface conditions which often can make steering somewhat challenging. As a result, a snowmobile with such skis will seldom perform as well as it could were the configuration of the skis better matched to the snow and surface conditions.